Hi Pamela,
Mine ranges from pretty decent to nearly unbearable. It usually starts up in the gum above my two front teeth and travels around the upper palate. The top and sides of my tongue and the inside of the lower gum also get involved. It feels like a hot pizza burn or scald on all of my mouth. It just throbs.
I've seen several regular doctors and dentists who didn't even know what the h*** I had. I know they thought I was crazy. Finally I was reading one night online and figured out what it was called. I saw the name of a woman who did research on it and e-mailed her. She referred me to a pain doctor/ dentist in my area.
He examined me and gave me a mouthwash to kill thrush. It helped some and felt cool. He told me to take B vitamins which I am. He told me to get a script for Klonopin which I did and I took it. I didn't notice any improvement so I dumped the Klonopin and went back on Xanax as needed for anxiety. (which is what I was on before.) The guy also told me to get an estrogen level done which I did and my level was fine...I am not yet in menopause.
So there isn't any obvious reason I have BMS. I have a bunch of the risk factors, but I don't know of any cure.
I have read of trying chewing gum, but I teach and gum is not a good option for me. When my mouth gets bad my speech slurs as my tongue feels too "big" for my mouth.
My mouth always feels fine in the morning. No burning at all. It starts around noon and is at it's worse at bedtime. Xanax or advil don't touch it.
I do use a tooth guard...a plastic thing for teeth grinding? and this does give me some relief for some odd reason on very bad nights.
I'll look in to the biotene.
Thanks Pamela so much for responding. It is so nice to "meet" another person who has heard of this problem.